OH, SO CLOSE; Ashley Force misses first win but makes history in Las Vegas.(Competition)

Byline: ROB GEIGER

Second-generation Funny Car driver Ashley Force scored her second consecutive runner-up finish to move into first place in the championship points standings after the NHRA's Las Vegas stop. Force became the first woman in history to hold the top ranking in the class her father, John Force, has dominated for so many years.

The reigning rookie of the year has now raced to three final rounds in her brief career but has yet to score a win in her Ford Mustang, which would be another first for a female Funny Car racer.

Force's history-making result overshadowed the long-overdue wins of Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan and Funny Car's Tim Wilkerson, who trails Force by just five points. McClenathan had not won since 2006, while Wilkerson scored for the first time since 2004 in his Chevrolet Impala SS.

In Pro Stock, former champion Jason Line moved into a tie with reigning champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. for the points lead, with his first win of the year in his Pontiac G6.

With a capacity crowd on its feet, Force posted a 4.993-second run at 313.95 mph in the final. But independent runner Wilkerson, the top qualifier at three of the first five events this season, had a little more horsepower and won with a 4.962 at 292.58 mph.

Force's record romp soothed her father's failure to qualify. The 14-time NHRA champion is on the cusp of his 500th career race and his 1000th elimination-round win. It was the third DNQ in the last eight starts for the senior Force, a winner of 125 NHRA events.